Monday, September 29, 2014

The Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered annually by the
Department of State. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class
of “diversity immigrants,” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.
For fiscal year 2016, 50,000 diversity visas (DVs) will be available. There is no cost to register for the
DV program.

Applicants who are selected in the lottery (“selectees”) must meet simple, but strict, eligibility
requirements in order to qualify for a diversity visa. Selectees are chosen through a randomized
computer drawing. Diversity visas are distributed among six geographic regions and no single country
may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

For DV-2016, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000
natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years:

Friday, September 26, 2014

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recently met again
with Charles Oppenheim to discuss the current demand and expected movements in
various visa bulletin categories.

Charles Oppenheim is the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division within Department of State (DOS).

Please see the important details below:

EB2 India: As we had reported earlier, EB2 India category quota has been exhausted for FY 2014 on September 10, 2014. However USCIS will continue to accept applications from EB2 India applicants.

In addition, demand in EB2 India
category has also increased due to (1) new filings and (2) upgrades
from EB3 India to EB2 India category. This will result in heavy retrogression in EB2 India. Priority dates are expected to retrogress from 2009 to early 2005 in the next visa bulletin.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

From USCIS: Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson will re-designate South
Sudan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and extend the existing TPS
designation for the country from Nov. 3, 2014, through May 2, 2016. This
allows eligible nationals of South Sudan (or persons without
nationality who last habitually resided in South Sudan) to register or
re-register for TPS in accordance with the notice published in the Federal Register.

Current
South Sudanese beneficiaries seeking to extend their TPS status must
re-register during a 60-day period that runs from Sept. 2, 2014, through
Nov. 3, 2014. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
encourages beneficiaries to re-register as soon as possible once the
60-day period begins. USCIS will not accept applications before Sept. 2,
2014.

Who’s Eligible

Current TPS Status

When to File

Current TPS beneficiaries from South Sudan

Have TPS

To
extend your TPS, you must re-register during a 60-day re-registration
period that runs fromSept. 2, 2014, through Nov. 3, 2014.

South Sudan nationals and persons without nationality who last habitually resided in South Sudan, who have:

Continuously resided in the United States since Sept. 2, 2014, and

Been continuously physically present in the United States since November 3, 2014

Do Not Have TPS

To obtain
TPS, you may apply for TPS during a 180-day initial registration period
that runs from Sept. 2, 2014, through March 2, 2015.

EB1: All
EB1 categories are current and should continue to
remain current for fiscal year. Demand continues to be around 1200-1400 every month (per the latest pending inventory).

EB2 ROW: This
category continues to remain current. Demand in EB2ROW continues to be
very low at an average of around 300-600 per month.

EB2 China: As expected, EB2 China moved forward by 5 weeks in this visa bulletin. It is likely to continue to
move forward around 3 to 5 weeks per month.

EB2 India: Also as expected, EB2 India category did not move forward in this visa bulletin. We had earlier posted a blog post that according to Charles Oppenheim, EB2 India quota has been used up for fiscal year 2014. This means no new visas will be allocated to EB2 India between September 10 and September 30, 2014.

We have added a blog post
exclusive to EB2 India movement in fiscal year 2014. As many of you
expected, DOS has predicted retrogression in November due to large
demand from (a) applicants porting from EB3 India to EB2 India (since
they have been waiting
in EB3 India category for more than a decade) and (b) applicants who are
filing I-485 for the first time.

Also please see this blog post for updates in EB2 (India, ROW and China) category.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Mr. Charles Oppeneheim announced yesterday that that quota for EB2 India has been used up and no new visas will be available atleast until September 30, 2014.

However if you have set up interview for consular processing, visa may still be available. The best thing to do is to contact the local embassy where your interview is set up and confirm visa availability. This may change from embassy to embassy in different countries and hence it is not possible to list all (around 200 embassy/consulate) information here.

If you are from EB2 India and your I-485 application is approved between September 10 and September 30, 2014, please let everyone know in the comment section below.

Monday, September 1, 2014

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), a program within the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is a part of the National Security
Investigations Division and acts as a bridge for government organizations that have
an interest in information on nonimmigrants whose primary reason for coming to
the United States is to be students.
On behalf of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), SEVP manages schools,
nonimmigrant students in the F & M visa classifications and their dependents.

The Department of State manages Exchange Visitor Programs, nonimmigrant
exchange visitors in the J visa classification and their dependents. Both SEVP and
the Department of State use the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System
(SEVIS) to track and monitor schools; exchange visitor programs; and F, M and J
nonimmigrants while they visit the United States and participate in the U.S.
education system.

WHAT IS THE STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR INFORMATION SYSTEM
(SEVIS)?

SEVIS is the web-based system that DHS uses to maintain information on
SEVP-certified schools and the F & M students who come to the United States to
attend those schools. SEVIS also maintains information on Department of
State-designated exchange visitor program sponsors and J-1 visa exchange visitor
program participants. It is a critical tool in SEVP’s mission to protect national
security while supporting the legal entry of the more than one million F, M and J
nonimmigrants to the United States for education and cultural exchange.

DEFINITIONS
• Nonimmigrants – Person entering the United States to visit, study or work (depending on the type of visa) temporarily but not to stay permanently in the United States.
• F-1 nonimmigrant students – Nonimmigrant status conferred on a student pursuing a full program of study in a college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic high school, private elementary school, other academic school or language training program in the United States that is SEVP-certified to enroll F and/or M students.
• M-1 nonimmigrant students – Nonimmigrant status conferred on a foreign national pursuing a full program of study at an SEVP-certified vocational school or other recognized non-academic school (other than in language training programs).
• J-1 exchange visitors – Foreign national selected by a Department of State-designated program to participate in an exchange visitor program.
• STEM – Science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs of study.

STUDENTS AND EXCHANGE VISITORS
• There are currently 966,333 F & M students studying in the United States.
• There are currently 232,988 J-1 exchange visitors in the United States.
• Twenty-eight percent of all F & M students in the United States originate from China.
• Seventy-five percent of all F & M students in the United States are from Asia.
• When compared to July 2013, the number of active F & M students and exchange visitors increased eight percent to 87,370.

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